It was a truism that all civilizations were basically neurotic until they made contact with everybody else and found their place within the ever-changing meta-civilisation of other beings, because, until then, during the stage when they honestly believed they might be entirely alone in existence, all solo societies were possessed of both an inflated sense of their own importance and a kind of existential terror at the sheer scale and apparent emptiness of the universe.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Bodyweight was at 210 after the holiday week, which I was happy about (zero to insignificant weight gain). Pressing was hard but doable, which I'm also happy about.

30 December 2015

Squat 435 lbs. 3s x 2

Had to use the shitty rack with weird hooks, which I haven't used in a while and which felt super awkward. On my last warmup set I misstepped and rammed the bar against one of the hooks (instead of over it) and had to do a shuffle dance with 405 on my back. This did not feel good at all. My injured knee hurt and squat depth was questionable on one of the sets (I think 3).

Bench press 310 lbs. x 3, 295 lbs. x 3

Only did one back-off set, as I was pretty fried from the awful squat workout.

Leg extension 3s x AMAP

Leg curl 3s x AMAP

Pushdowns 3s x AMAP

Usually a do an end-of-the-year post in which I summarize any improvements in my lifts over the year, exercises and programs that I experimented with, what worked and what didn't, etc. 2015 can be summed up as: I got hurt, worked around one injury after another, made zero progress on the big lifts. On the plus side, I kept lifting even though the weights and workouts were unmotivating and disappointing, so I was able to maintain some continuity.

I also saw some modest improvements physique-wise, mostly via lost bodyfat. It has taken me a while to let go of my bigorexia and permabulk dreams (not easy for a former skinny person who struggled to gain weight for years), but I'm pretty sure my "eat big lift mediocre" days are over.

In 2016 I'll keep rehabbing and I plan to get back on the Texas Method - inspired routine that served me well in 2013 and 2014. I'm probably too detrained to hit a new PR in the squat in the next 12 months, but getting back to around 5 plates would be nice. Here's to best wishes for the future and lessons learned, etc., etc.

Very easy. Shoulder/scapula was acting up, possibly due to dips on Tuesday.

Rear delt raise x20, x20, x15

DB curl 4s x 8-10

Pushdowns 3s x AMAP

Cable fly 2s x 8-10

19 December 2015

Squat 425 lbs. x2, x3, x2

Pull 475 lbs. x 3 singles, 455 lbs. x 3 singles

Dropped the weight down so I could get all the reps. For some reason, I really felt these pulls in my upper back, especially between the scaps.

A story for the holidays: there were two guys deadlifting in the rack today. I snickered inwardly and thought about Swede giving them the death look. But then one of them (the tall and skinny one who didn't look like he lifted at all) pulled 500 pounds like it was 315. His form was terrible and inefficient and one could tell that he only deadlifts when he feels like it, as an afterthought to his real workout. I would bet good money that he'd pull 600+ with minimal proper training. Moral of the story - you can program like a tryhard nerd and train until your spine cracks and your hands bleed, but the guy who does half squats and curls in the rack will still out-pull you with minimal effort. This is why the deadlift is like life.

Then I set up to do overhead presses, but some guy was waiting for the rack to do squats. I always feel very guilty about pressing in the rack (to me it's on par with curling in the rack), so I gave it up, in the spirit of the holidays, and went to press in the shitty Crossfit rack. Hit 135x4, then 155x3, then failed 175 twice (not even getting a single rep). Moral of the story - no good deed goes unpunished.

Hope everyone enjoys the holidays. I'm taking a week off, and my wish for the new year is that it will be stronger than 2015, because 2015 sure sucked elephant balls when it came to lifting. But everything else went great, so no complaints overall.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Was supposed to get 3 reps with 365, but no way. I realized that I screwed up the weights, because I based the percentages on my max with the Original SS (significant boost), but for some unknown reason am still using the Reactive (little to no boost) on my SS days. Which is a surefire recipe for... not-success. So, red or Original SS it is until the end of the cycle.

In addition to the above, I was only supposed to do 360x3, but decided to bump it up to 365 so as to not be a pussy. Obviously that went well.

Pulldowns 30 total reps

Standing BTN press 135x5, 150 lbs. 2s x 5

One-arm machine preacher curls 30 total reps per arm

10 December 2015

Bench press 300 lbs. x 4, 285 lbs. 3s x 4

Lately I've been having some shoulder issues when pressing, but today everything felt fine. So I did an extra back-off set.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Standing BTN press 140 lbs. 3s x 6

Barbell curl 30 total reps

I kinda sorta curled in the squat rack today. Not really in it, but I leaned against one of the rack posts while curling (there was no space available to do wall curls). Imagined Lyfta making angry eyes at me from across the weight room.

Cable fly 2s x 10 - speaking of Lyfta.

11 December 2015

Paused bench press 285 lbs. x 2, 275 lbs. x 2

275 didn't feel heavy at all, but 285 felt more like 315 for whatever reason.

DB curl 3s x 8-10

Rear delt raise on incline bench, 2s x 20, 1s x 15

Pushdowns 3s x AMAP

Leg curl 4 sets

Leg extension 4 sets

Because it makes sense to bench press and then do leg isolation exercises.

12 December 2015

Squat 415 lbs. 3s x 2

Warmed up like this: 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 315x2, 335x2, 365x2. This is significant because I only had 20 minutes to complete the whole workout. Squats were easy enough, but I definitely felt some lower back and hamstring soreness the next day.

13 December 2015

Mid-shin block pull 475 lbs. x 4 singles

Was supposed to do 5, but back was sore and now I'm super cautious about that sort of thing.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Did these with a barbell instead of the Smith machine. Took me a while to get used to the groove, but once I got the hang of it upping the weight was easy. Mad props to Coach for floor pressing 315+ back in the day, this shit is considerably harder than a regular BP.

Leg curls 3s x 8

12 November 2015

SlingShot bench press 300 lbs. x 8, then 280 lbs. x 8 (again with Reactive SS - I will hold off on using the Original until the last 3 weeks of the program).

Monday, November 9, 2015

So my assignment got extended and I didn't make it home until Saturday. Went to the gym and just basically repeated last pre-trip workout to restart the cycle. Also I somehow dropped 5 pounds during my trip and now weigh around 203. Seeing as I no longer lift heavy and don't need the extra bodyweight, that's a good thing?

Bench press up to 310 lbs. x 3, then 280 lbs. 2s x 3

Paused bench press 250 lbs. 2s x 5

Seated cable row 30 total reps - forgot I was supposed to do these on a separate day

Standing BTN press 140 lbs. 3s x 5 - also forgot I was only supposed to do 2 sets of these.

EZ bar curls 30 total reps

Pushdowns 3 sets x AMAP

Last November I weighed in excess of 220 pounds and was capable of lifting some decent weights. A year later I've lost over 15 pounds BW (granted, most of it on purpose) and all my lifts are way down. Training-wise, 2015 has been a complete writeoff.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

A much needed reminder of how weak my triceps have gotten. Over the past year and a half or so I've moved my bench press grip out wider and wider, allowing me to progress in weight more quickly but neglecting the weakest link in the chain. I was supposed to work up to a comfortable set of 4, and 265 was not comfortable. Could have maybe done 1-2 more reps, which at this weight is pretty weak.

Standing BTN press 135x3, 145x3, 155x3

Set an unusual PR in the BTN press in that I waited 11 minutes to do three sets that took me 3.5 minutes (including rest periods).

Leg extensions with top squeeze, 3s to failure

Read somewhere that these are good for quad tendonitis. Jury's still out.

Friday, October 16, 2015

So the bench press specialization routine I settled on is a 9-week program where you rotate different pressing exercises, rep ranges and intensities.Since I'll only be squatting and pulling once a week, I needed something to fill up the remaining 3 days, and thought this fits the bill nicely. You start out with one main pressing exercise and 4-5 supplemental ones, then gradually eliminate them until you're only doing the main one in week 9.

I have no illusions about setting new PRs and have pretty much written this year off training-wise. Hopefully I'll learn something new from this experiment and stay motivated - I've been struggling with gym motivation since my back/hip injury.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Barely made 305x7. Could not get the muscles to fire properly. Whole upper body was very sore and creaky. I think the current volume of heavy pressing (raw and SlingShot) is killing my bench press - I can't recover from two heavy workouts in 7 days.

Will probably take a deload week, then switch to a bench press specialization routine until my knee heals. Back to 3/5/1 as soon as I can squat pain free.

Seated cable rows 30 total reps - varied the grip and used different handles for a change.

Standing front press 30 total reps - started out with 115, bumped up to 120 at some point.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Leg press 50 total reps - upped the weight on the leg press and now I hate it again.

Seated leg curl 3s x 8-10

Lifting was solid, but my knee doesn't seem to be getting any better. I'm now facing a quandary. If I ignore the knee pain (it's not really affecting my squats) and keep increasing the weight on the bar, I have a chance of working back up to 5 plates before the end of the year. On the other hand, if I ignore the knee pain, it could get worse and possibly develop into something serious. Also I don't see any point in working up to LOL5pleat just so I could say I've done it - it won't change anything, or even feed my ego.

From the online research I've done, it looks like a simple case of quadriceps tendonitis, but it could become chronic if untreated. The options now are a) keep squatting and hope the knee makes it, or b) stop doing all quad-oriented work and wait for the tendon to recover. There might be a c) reduce lower body work to once a week, but that never really works when it comes to injuries.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Was pleasantly surprised to get four reps with 360. Unpleasantly surprised to fail a single with 370 right after that (it wasn't even close). But the work set is the only set that matters, so it's fine.

Neutral grip pullups 30 total reps

Smith machine floor press 4s x 5 - liking this more and more every time.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Low energy today. Ate a piece of cake at work and felt like shit the rest of the day. I don't avoid carbs or anything, but I do tend to eat them later in the day, after training, and generally avoid garbage carbohydrate sources. No sugary crap in the middle of the day anymore.

Elbows felt a bit iffy, so I didn't do the usual 50 reps. But pullups haven't felt this easy in a long time. Losing weight seems to be the ticket to pullup proficiency. Might try for a new rep max one day when my elbows feel good.

Overhead press 115x5, 145x3, 165x2, 185x1, 200x2, 200x1

Barely had anything left at this point. The more weight I move in the bench press (raw and SlingShot), the further my overhead press continues to plummet. I guess this is normal. My arms seem to be the weak point in the OH press (as usual).

DB curls 4 sets

Pushdowns 5 sets

Cable curls 4 sets

Cable fly 3 sets

Didn't count reps on any of these, experimented a bit with angles and time under tension.

Friday, September 4, 2015

I won't be able to train tomorrow, so today I decided to combine two workouts into one. I figured I could get away with it as it's a 5-rep week.

Squat 225x5, 275x3, 315x5, 345x5, 375 (5+) x 10 reps

Bench press 135x5, 225x5, 255x5, SlingShot 285x5, 315 (5+) x 10 reps

Felt okay, but my elbows started hurting a bit. Not sure why.

Mid-shin block pulls 405 lbs. x 6 singles - middle back was fried at this point and the muscles were cramping up. I've never felt this part of the back work so hard.

Neutral-grip pullups 30 total reps - should have skipped these, as they didn't do my elbows any favors

Pushdowns 3s x 15

Seated Smith machine press - 4 random sets of 5. My back didn't feel up to standing presses and this was the only available seated station. I had to twist the bar at a weird angle to get the hooks off the catches, and elbows did not like this at all.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Matched the reps from last attempt at 285. Not quite sure why I have to do 10 reps when I could just do the minimum 6 and save some energy for the OH press. But that would actually... make sense, so I'll probably never do it.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Didn't work out for 3 days, went to a friend's farm to help out with some stuff, mostly brute manual labor. Got to drive a tractor and operate the front scoop thingy, which was a lot of fun, and I managed to not kill/maim anyone or inflict damage upon immobile objects. Good times.

Squat 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 315x5, 355x5, 400 (3+) x 7 reps

Joker sets 420x3, 430x3, 440x3 - quite pleased with this.

Mid-shin block pull 380 lbs. x 6 singles

Pretty easy, but had to use straps despite the low weight because my grip was toast.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Not sure how the weight got so heavy all of a sudden. Maybe I messed up my Excel calculations, but it doesn't look like it. Also I should not have overhead pressed on Sunday, or I should have taken an extra day off.

Or maybe this makes sense. I got a raw single with 355 earlier this week and tripled the same weight wearing a SlingShot, which sounds about right? Either way, I'm supposed to repeat the same weight for my next 1+ week, so as long as I get more than 3 reps then I'll be fine.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Knee felt better today (luckily as it was squat day), but my left shoulder/upper back area started to hurt for no particular reason. It's like John Broz says, your body has to hurt somewhere. How you feel is a lie, etc.

Squat 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x5, 345x5, 375 (5+) x 9 reps

Wanted to get 10 reps, but the shoulder discomfort made it hard to rack the bar properly.

Mid-shin block pulls 380 lbs. x 10 singles on the minute

These felt nice and easy, so I ended up doing a few extra.

Glute-ham raise 20 total reps

Bent-over rows, light, 3s x 12

Ab machine 3s x 8-10

I've been hitting pretty high reps on my 5-rep weeks, which feels great but I'm not sure if it's helping me get stronger. I believe in reps for strength and that doing singles in unproductive, but I generally prefer sets of 5, 4 or 3, not 10 and 12. Something I've been thinking about is to cap the 5-week reps to 5 or, say no more than 7, then try to go harder on the secondary lift. So the 5-week would really become heavy week for OH press and pulls with some token bench press and squat work thrown in. Maybe I'll do this, maybe I won't.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Knee pain is getting serious. I was hoping it would go away after a week of no squats. On the plus side, squats felt extremely strong in spite of pain, and I could have probably done a few more reps. Will add more than the usual 10 pound increase when calculating weights for the next cycle.

Paused shrugs 50 total reps - did these while waiting for the platform to free up.

Mid-shin block pull 405 lbs. x 6 singles - not bad

Leg press 50 total reps

Was going to skip leg press to rest the knee, but someone left exactly the right number of plates on it.

This was terribly hard as usual, but a bit easier than last time. Will add a pair of 25s next time I do this.

Right knee was giving me trouble again. Since I don't want to be smart and rest it, I should remember to wrap my knees and foam roll more. Will be taking a few days off this week and the next, maybe the pain clears up.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Did these with the bar sitting pretty low. Shoulders didn't feel terrible either. It's tempting to revert back to Rippetoesque squatmornings and move bigger weights instantly, but after all the time I've invested into learning how to squat upright and use my legs it feels like a regression.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Could have done a few more, but the weight was hurting my shoulder. Now that my preferred bar position has migrated somewhere between high and low bar, I'm having a hard time finding the right bar groove whenever I try to go for one extreme or the other.

Monday, July 6, 2015

505 is not bad. My best ever deadlift was 515 pounds, and my mid-shin pull was always lower than my deadlift, so this is almost like matching my deadlift PR.

High bar squat 225x5, 275x3, 295 (3+) x 7

My right knee was really bothering me, so I cut this set way short.

Hack squat 1s x 12, 3s x 10

Leg curl 3s x 21s

Hanging leg raise 3s x 10

Later at home I foam rolled my quads and IT band and my right knee was instantly and miraculously better. I need to devote at least 5 minutes once a week to foam rolling (back and legs), it always helps me get rid of weird little pains and I don't know why I always completely forget to do it.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

This week my raw and SlingShot bench press were roughly the same. Still can't seem to be able to find my SlingShot pressing form. Not that I'm complaining, since my raw bench press seems to be going well, but it is pretty strange.

Pullups 50 total reps

Standing front press 135x3, 165x2, 185x2, 195x2

DB hammer curls, with and without FatGripz x 50 reps total

DB tricep extensions 4s x 12

I'm thinking about ditching the overhead press day. All it does is interfere with shoulder and triceps recovery and leads to piss-poor SlingShot pressing later in the week. On SS bench press day, my shoulders feel like they've been beaten up with baseball bats. Maybe I'll just do OH presses for 5-6 singles twice a week after bench pressing, so I get more recovery time between pressing days.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Skipping the gym tonight due to evening with the wife, so I had to combine two workouts into one. Which really means I tacked some OH presses onto my leg day.

Mid-shin pull 480 lbs. x 3 singles

Program called for only 2, but I felt good and decided to go for a third. Which was maybe not a great idea, because I felt like I strained my lower back a little on that third single. Maxing out next week.

High-bar close-stance squat 205x3, 245x5, 275x3, 300 (1+) x 7 reps

All squat sets felt terribly hard, even the warmup with 205. Also my knees hurt. I think it's because I pull first and my lower back / glutes are too tired to distribute the strain properly.

Fortunately I only have to do this pull-before-squat nonsense for one more week.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Nasty hangover this morning. On the bright side, the extreme diuretics cycle I went through last night has brought my weight down to just over 204 pounds. Maybe I should write an article on booze as the miracle weight loss drug.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Gym was reflooring today, so they gave us passes to another gym from the same chain, also in my neighborhood. They have some really cool HammerStrength machines that my gym doesn't have, like a plate loaded seated dip machine which is the best exercise I've ever tried for my triceps, and a bent-over chest-supported row thingy which hits the upper back very well. Their squat rack and platform options, OTOH, are shittier.

I have a cheapskate membership that doesn't cover all the gyms in the same chain, so I can't use this other gym regularly. But if I could, I'd definitely go over there just to have a dip-and-row day. These machines are that good.

Squat 225x3, 275x5, 315x3, 365 (5+) x 10 reps

Leg press 50 total reps - sick pump brah, had to strip it down to 3 plates to make it all the way through the reps

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

I've decided to follow the Prilepin chart for my "heavy" press day. I.e. work up to a heavy single, then shoot for 5-8 total singles with 90% or more of the heavy single weight. So today's workout was 6 good singles (all lifts at 205 or more pounds).

On my second press day (after SS bench press) I'll do 8-10 total reps with 85% of the top weight I hit on the "heavy" day. So this week I'll aim for 195 for four doubles or 3x3.

Also I'm scaling back my press goals - I'll just go in and lift to a "daily max" and try to get the single reps in. The daily max will move when it moves.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

This was pretty easy, bar flew up on all but the last couple pulls. Much easier than pulling 455 last two weeks. Who'd have thought, looks like I can pull more weight if I don't pre-exhaust with multiple sets of squat.

I also did the "strip-down complex" while stripping the bar down.

High-bar close stance squats 205x3, 255x3, 270 (5+) x 8 reps

Holy crap the squats were hard. Even 255 felt like it would break my back. I never realized how much work I shift on the glutes and back and hams when squatting - with those muscles effectively out of commission today, quads had to take over, and it wasn't pretty. No wonder my quads have always been underdeveloped.

But I still hit the required reps and now I know what I'll do in the future: squats before pulls while the pulls are light to medium-heavy, then pulls before squats in the last 3-4 weeks of the pull cycle.

Hack squats 3s x 10 - legs were jelly at this point, but I added

Leg extensions 2s x 10, very light.

Bodyweight was just over 205 pounds today. Looks promising. Last week I clocked in at 206 twice, so let's see if I can get down to 200 by the end of summer.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Another underwhelming SlingShot session. Since I started this new program thing, my Joker-set SS pressing has been pretty much on par with my raw pressing, which is surely some kind of medical condition/phenomenon or something. Usually I get at least 30 pounds out of the SlingShot. But as long as I keep hitting my raw press goals (and my SS rep goals), I'm happy.

Pullups, neutral grip, 50 total reps

Standing front press 135x4, 165x2, 185x2, 190x2, 195x2

Went a little heavier to make up for the weak-ass overhead workout on Tuesday.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

I had a decent bench press session yesterday, so I wasn't expecting much today, but this was weaker than even my worst expectations. The strength just wasn't there, and the attempts at 230 didn't even come close. Onward and upward, I guess.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Joker sets 300x3, 320x3 - wanted to give 340x3 a shot, but decided to save my back for the pulls.

Mid-shin pull 435x1, 455 lbs. x 5 singles, 415x1

Program called for 6 singles with 455, but I barely managed to lock out the fifth, so I lowered the weight considerably for the last set. Again, upper back seemed to be the weak link. I need to either a) stop doing joker sets on the high bar squat, or b) do the pulls before the squats. Next 3 weeks I'll only be pulling once per week, so that should alleviate some of the fatigue.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

A bit disappointed with the joker sets. 355x2 went up very easily (I felt like I could have done 3 or 4), then I got crushed by 365 and barely made it. After hitting 350x2 "raw" earlier in the week, I was expecting at least 370-380 for a double with a SS. But I hit my reps goal with 335, so that's all that matters.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

I was very tired today and sore pretty much all over. Presses started feeling heavy at 165 pounds. But I managed to hit all five singles with 225 and didn't fail any this time. This makes 2 workouts in a row that I've lifted 225 5 times successfully, so next week I'll try getting at least 1 single at 230.

Pulldowns 30 total reps, heavy

Standing overhead tricep extensions 50 total reps - bumped up the weight on these

These were unusually hard. I failed twice, so 7 attempts in total. Upper back was sore and cramping (not sure why - maybe the bench press and rows yesterday) and I could not engage my lats and traps properly to finish the lift. It's also the first time I've failed a pulling-type lift due to upper back soreness. Maybe I should switch around my cable rows and pulldowns/pullups so I'm not doing any upper back work before the heavy pulls day.

Hack squat 30 total reps - went heavier than last time and did fewer reps

Sunday, June 7, 2015

No idea where this came from, but I'll take it. 340 felt extremely light so I tried 350. By this point I'd found a spotter, who may or may have not touched the bar on the second rep. In any case, this is the heaviest non-slingshot double I've done in a long while, and it was pretty easy.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Trained today because I won't be able to Friday and Saturday. Chest and triceps and shoulders were still sore from Tuesday, but most of the soreness was strangely in my lats.

Bench press 230x5, 265x5, SlingShot (5+) 300 x 11 reps

Really wanted 12, but it didn't happen. I'll just have to try for 12 with 310 next time.

Neutral-grip pullups 50 total reps

These went OK in spite of my lats being very sore. The reduced bodyweight might be helping with pullups. I clocked in at 206.4 yesterday. Not super light, and my weight has popped above 210 a couple of times during the week, but a solid loss from my previous average of 220-225.

Now if only I could get my pressing strength back to where it was before the weight loss...

Standing front press 185 lbs. 2sx3

My left palm started hurting on the second set - a weird pain like the bar was pressing down directly on the nerve, or something. So I didn't go for a third set. Just as well, because even the previous two felt very heavy and I had to cheat a couple of the reps with a kick.

Failed rep #3, nailed the other four. It was hard, but doable. Also I don't understand how I can OH press more after doing a high-rep set on the bench press than when I do the OH press fresh, as my main lift. But whatever, glad my press is finally moving forward.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Lower back and legs were very sore today, so pressing was very hard. Still got 4 reps with 220 or above, not a total fail. Had to grind some of the reps so hard I thought my eyes were going to pop out.

Finished reading The Hybrid Athlete by Alex Viada and I must say I'm very impressed. The purpose of the book is to provide programming guidelines to athletes wishing to integrate weightlifting and endurance training, possibly even compete at both (e.g. a powerlifter looking to compete in his first marathon, or a triathlon athlete thinking about entering a strongman competition). If you're focusing on one and want to add a bit of the other (e.g. powerlifter trying to improve his conditioning), that's covered too. Personally I have no desire to improve my 5k time or do a triathlon (or a marathon), but would like to add as much low-impact cardio work to my weekly routine as I can without it negatively affecting my lifting.

The book is written in a clear, no-nonsense style. No apocryphal bullshit or broscience - where necessary, the author addresses and dismantles common training and nutrition myths using actual textbook science. At the same time, he doesn't try to cram science down your throat. There's a brief physiology section at the beginning, describing bodily processes (e.g. digestion, strength and endurance adaptations, etc.) to lay down the foundation for the chapters to come, and that's about as sciency as it gets. The short nutrition chapter is an absolute gem and contains more useful information than some whole books I've read on the topic.

Although the book does contain a few sample training routines at the end, with exercises and sets and reps and times included, it's not a "how to program my strength training" type of book. The author wants you to understand the different demands various athletic endeavors place on your body and fit the pieces together accordingly. Viada himself is an accomplished competitive powerlifter who runs marathons 'for fun', so he definitely practices what he preaches. He trains successful "hybrid" athletes, Crossfitters and military personnel. He also happens to love beer, so major points in my book.

I would recommend that you get a copy of The Hybrid Athlete, but here are some of the high points:

Lifting and endurance training encourage the development of different types of physique. New muscle mass places a disproportional added demand on the body's energy systems. Adding endurance training can impact your recovery, hence muscular hypertrophy. Cardio can "kill your gainz" (and conversely, gainz can kill your cardio), but you can mitigate the negative effects through intelligent programming and adequate diet.

Stop thinking about "strength training" and "conditioning". Instead, look at various types of training through the twin prism of skill and intensity. I.e. it's unnecessary and unproductive to do sprints on your off days from lifting.

Specific exercises for specific work capacity, i.e. to get better at specific movements, do those specific movements. E.g. the overhead press might or might not help your bench press, but the paused bench press always helps your bench press.

A "hybrid" lifting program must center on the essentials. One main movement, 1-2 high-carryover accessories and 1-2 exercises to improve structural stability. E.g. squat, front squat, split squat.

Don't waste time on irrelevant movements that require skill development and place undue stress on the muscle groups necessary for your main activity. E.g. tire flipping is great for strongman, okay for CF, absolutely useless for powerlifting or running.

Steady state, long duration cardio is absolutely essential to the "hybrid athlete" and should comprise the bulk of the endurance portion of his workout. Intense cardio, e.g. sprints, takes too long to recover from and should be treated the same way as a weightlifting workout.

Always think of opportunity cost - max effort training, be it sprints or heavy squats, is difficult to program in and requires a lot of recovery time.

Nutrition: "The majority of individuals spend entirely so much time focused on macronutrient breakdowns, meal timing, manipulating hormone levels via food, etc, that they miss the fact that their careful caloric calculations are completely incorrect. The single biggest component in eating for performance is indeed caloric intake. (...) The second biggest factor is carbohydrate intake."

Calorie calculators based on height, weight, "activity level", etc. are worthless. In order to estimate your caloric needs correctly, track everything you eat for a week and check the scale to determine your baseline caloric needs. Hint: you'll probably find out that you need way less calories than you thought you did. Figure out what you need to do from there, based on your goals (e.g. add 5% per week to gain weight).

Baseline protein intake should be around 1-1.2g/kg bodyweight. More that that won't harm you, but is absolutely unnecessary. He quotes the example of burn victims (extremely high protein requirements to repair lost tissue, way above those of any bodybuilder) being fed around 2g/kg, i.e. still way less than the broscientific axiom of 1-1.5g/lb.

Fats should be 10-15% of total caloric intake. The rest should be carbohydrates. Yes, for many this would be a staggering amount of carbs, and tough to swallow (in every meaning of the phrase). But as long as you count your calories correctly (and this is by far the most important factor for 99.9% of people looking to lose or gain weight), you can still get shredded.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Pretty surprised by the nine reps with 285. My best ever with that weight was ten reps, and at that time my repping strength was much better than it is today. Also nine reps on a 3-rep day is a good starting point for this sort of program.

Seated cable row 30 total reps

Dips 2s x 12

Seated DB curl 50 total reps

Rope pushdown 50 total reps

Bodyweight is holding at 210. Dipped to 208-209 a couple of times, and once all the way down to 207, but average for the week was still around 210.

That was it. Squats felt really strong and my hip/back injury held up fine. I feel like a comeback by the end of 2015 is still possible.

Monday I'm embarking on a slightly changed program. It will be a variant of Wendler's 3/5/1 with extra "joker" sets thrown in. I like the simplicity of the programming and the "do as much as you feel like" approach. So lots of rep PRs, except in the OH press and deadlift, where I'll still be doing singles.

Friday, May 22, 2015

I didn't exactly expect to hit 5 singles with 225 one day after a heavy bench press workout, but the two consecutive fails were pretty disappointing. I didn't even come close on either of them, and on the first one I even failed a follow-up attempt at push-pressing 225. So I dropped the weight back down to 215, did two easy presses to find my groove, tried 220 which felt light, then tried 225, which felt even lighter. Take-home point: make smaller jumps when warming up to the working singles weight, 5 pounds instead of 10.

I also did 3 sets of 8 on the ab machine so as to not feel lazy. Accessory work to be done tomorrow, although if I feel recovered enough I'll just hit the heavy squats instead. 6 consecutive training days - I feel like Coach.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Bench press seems to be taking a nosedive. I miscounted on the first set with 285, but even that weight felt heavy. Shoulders and upper back (lats) are really sore. I've decided to start alternating DB presses and lighter shoulder presses week to week. Also alternate pulldowns and pullups.

Standing front press 175 lbs. 3x3 - this wasn't that hard

Pullups 30 total reps - took it easy because I have to press heavy Wednesday and Thursday (bench/OH).

Friday, May 15, 2015

Could have gone for rep #8 on that last set, but my triceps were still sore from Tuesday's workout so I bitched out. My triceps have a habit of locking up / unexpectedly giving out when I do close-grip BP, and I wanted to avoid the embarrassment of getting pinned by 250 pounds and having to commit seppuku in the locker room shower later.

Standing front press 135x2, 165x1, 185x1, 205x1, 220 lbs. x 5 singles

Almost didn't make #1, it was probably the longest press repetition I've ever done. I blasted the weight up, stalled, ground it up a few inches, stalled again, managed to get it moving again (and promptly rammed the left-side 45# plate into the crossbar at the top of the rack, and almost dropped the bar on my head). Reps 2 through 5 were easier than 215 last week.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the OHP progress. At least one of my lifts is moving.

These caused a flareup of my hip injury. Did hip stretches to alleviate the pain. Also my knees are starting to hurt, not sure why as I've never hurt my knees doing squats before. Could be the total cycling volume in addition to the squats.

Leg extension 50 total reps

Leg curl 50 total reps

Curls and extensions instead of leg press, as I didn't want to aggravate the injury further. I never realized how much work the hips do in a leg press until I got hurt.

Looking over my logs, I see that my lifting program has changed a lot. I've been making little changes here and there, trying to work around my hip and back injury, and the little tweaks have added up to something quite different from the modified Texas Method I've been running over the past couple of years.

While I still want to get back to that original template (because it's very productive as far as heavy lifts go), I'll have to do so gradually in order to accommodate some changes to my lifting and overall health goals, such as:

Five lifting workouts per week. If I can't go heavy on squats or pulls, I should at least focus on pressing strength, especially my neglected overhead press. Maybe something positive will come out of the back injury after all.

Less fat - no use carrying bulk around if I'm not going to use it to lift heavy weights. Plan is to get my bodyweight to under 210, then to around 200 this summer. Then if I feel like my BF% is where it should be, gradually start to add weight. At a little under 6', 210 is more than enough BW, and a lean 200 would be great.

More cardio work - I want to aim for 2-3 sessions of 20-30 minutes, plus 2 sessions of 60 minutes per week. The short workouts will be done after lifting and the longer workouts on my two days off from lifting. I've been pretty consistent with these, I just haven't been logging them.

No more deadlifts. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again. Or something. My deadlift journey has always been one of one step forward, three steps back (and months taken off training as a consequence). The only serious injuries I've ever sustained from working out and playing sports have been deadlift-related. The deadlift is the only lift in which the starting point is determined by manufacturing standards (plate diameter), rather than the relative length of your own body structures (in competition, you can adjust the height of the squat stands and bench uprights if you're taller or shorter, but you ALWAYS start with the bar at EXACTLY the same height off the floor, regardless of whether you're 6'7" or 4'11"). Seeing as I don't compete in powerlifting and have absolutely zero need to practice heavy deadlifts from the floor, mid-shin pulls in the rack will do me quite nicely. I'd like to still be lifting weights in my 60s, and snapping my back up time after time isn't really conducive to that goal.

More SlingShot bench pressing. I have been using the two SlingShots for a while now, with good improvements on my "raw" bench press. I want to see what effect (if any) a period of SlingShot-dominant work would have on my bench press 1RM. So most of my heavy work will be done with either the Reactive or Original SlingShot.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Made these with power to spare, but form was not great. Still sort of uneven "in the hole". Used belt from 385 up.

Rack pull 380 lbs. x 10 singles in under 10 minutes

These were very hard today.

Leg press 50 total reps - made it to 35 with 5 plates

Glute ham raise 8 reps

I've been reading some stuff by Alex Viada and I can't believe I haven't discovered this guy before. Got his Hybrid Athlete book and might post a review soon. So far everything I've read, especially nutrition, is the work of pure genius.

I'm really enjoying the CG presses, but wrist wraps are a must for this exercise due to the severely compromised position my wrists are in at the bottom. With my history of tendinitis, I might come to regret doing these.

Standing overhead press 135x2, 165x1, 185x1, 215 x 5 singles

Almost 'forgot' to press the bar all the way up on the first single with 215, then stayed focused and nailed the next 4. Was going to try a sixth single with 220, but some guy wanted to use the rack, and since I have mad guilt/shame about pressing in the power rack I let him have it.

Pulldowns 30 reps total, heavy

One-arm preacher curls (machine) 50 reps total

DB front raise 50 reps total

DB tricep extension 50 reps total

Low rope cable row 3s x 20 - terrific back exercise, not sure why I don't do these every workout

Shoulders feel beat up and I'm starting to get twinges in (what I think is) my right rotator cuff. Overall this is too much pressing weekly volume. Will have to make some changes, maybe alternate bench and overhead press on the medium (5 sets of 3) day. Skipped dips today to give the shoulders a chance to recover.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Failed the fourth single with 330, the bar drifted back and almost fell on my face. The guy who was spotting me had spotted me several times before, and looked disappointed. I thought about making up some excuse, then didn't. Nailed the fifth attempt but it was a grinder. Pretty sad, as this isn't even 85% of 1RM. Oh well.

Used the Original SlingShot after a long period of bench pressing with the Reactive. It felt good, but I'm not as strong with it as I used to be. So for the next training cycle I'll be pressing with the Original on my heavy day and using the Reactive on my medium day.

Looks like I haven't lost much (any?) upper body strength over the past two weeks. Pulldowns also felt stronger than they had in the 1-2 months prior to the vacation. I did do high-rep cable pulls every day of the vacation, so those might have helped.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Watching myself in the mirror (hello sexy) I noticed I've started doing this weird thing at the bottom of the squat, sort of shifting side to side. I think it's because I'm unconsciously avoiding my left hip (the injured one). I'll have to work on correcting this, as I suspect it could have disastrous consequences once I start using some appreciable weight.

I'm also feeling some abdominal strain in random places, hope it's not a hernia or something.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

First squat workout after a layover always results in a lot of pain, and today was no different. I also realized that I planned poorly and would have to bench press on a Monday, which is something I try to avoid as much as possible. The gym was a veritable jungle tonight.

Bench press 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 275x3, 325 x 5 singles

Bench press w. SlingShot (R) 345 lbs. x 3

My setup on the SlingShot set was terrible (legs all over the place, upper back not set properly) but the weight still came up. Overall everything felt very strong, but technique was pretty bad - I lowered the bar to the wrong spot a few times, pressed unevenly out of the bottom, was slow and non-explosive in general. The fact that it felt easy in spite of all that is encouraging.

Back-off sets (no SlingShot) 295 lbs. x 2, x 3

Completed the whole bench press part of the workout in less than 20 minutes. Usually it takes me more than double that. Good times.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Actually failed first rep with 215, then got the next four in a row. Focus, focus, focus.

Barbell curls, heavy 3s x 5-6

DB tricep extensions 3s x 8-10

Machine preacher curls 3s x AMAP

Will be taking some time off, going out of town for a couple weeks. Let's see if I can keep the BW under 220 by the time I get back. Currently at 208, but 12 pounds in 14 days would hardly be a first for me.

Hip still hurts, but it's not that bad. I'm planning to stay away from heavy squats (triples) for a while yet - will keep doing sets of five. Also will switch to singles for the rack pull once I hit 355 for sets of 5.

Glute-ham raise 2s x 6

Leg press 5 plates x20, x20, x12

20-rep leg presses are worse than 20-rep squats. With the squat, at some point self-preservation kicks in and you simply can't do another rep because it'll crush you. With the leg press, you can always do one more rep.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Negative felt super heavy, considering it's not even 95% of my 1RM (and broscience has it you should be able to do a negative with 120% of your 1RM). Maybe I need to do more of these. It felt very uncomfortable and weird.

Back-off sets with SlingShot 325 lbs. 3s x 2

No SlingShot 265 lbs. 2s x 5 close grip

Seated cable row 4s x 6

Seated DB press 3s x 6 (60s)

EZ bar curl, heavy 3s x 5

Incline bench DB curl 3s x 10

Also today I saw probably the most impressive feat I've ever seen at the gym. This guy walked in, a bit taller than me, very muscular and aesthetic but by no means huge. He put 135 on the bar, squatted it 6-7 times, barefoot, no belt or anything. Then he proceeded to add a plate each set until he ended up with 495 for 6-7 reps. Each squat from the first rep with 135 to the last rep with 495 looked exactly the same - upright torso, high bar, legit depth. Every rep was precise and effortless. I strain more with 315 (even when not injured) than this dude did with 495. He didn't even break a sweat.

The whole thing was done in like 10 minutes or so, after which he went over to the dumbbell rack and started doing DB bench presses.

I had seen the guy around the gym before, doing random bodybuilding shit. Never would have thought him to be this strong. Looked like he was good for at least another 50 pounds for the same no. of reps. Probably 6 plates for 3-4.

Will be thinking about this on Wednesday, as I strain to squatmorning 345 for three sets of five, all red in the face, veins popping out in my temples.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Took a day off on Friday and woke up to everything hurting on Saturday. My hip injury was flaring up big time, but there was also pain in my shoulders, elbows, wrists, etc. So I decided to work everything at the gym and see what happens.

Squat 335 lbs. 3s x 5 - moved stance in closer on last two sets because the hip hurt. Then my knees hurt. Good times.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The rep with 365 felt slow, so I kept that last attempt pretty conservative. 390 still felt heavy. I was thinking about trying 405 with the Reactive SlingShot and 420 with the Original, but decided not to push it, so didn't do any SS work.

Plan is to max out the bench press on Tuesday or Wednesday, do some medium-heavy work the rest of the week and then reset the weights for the 6-week program. For the max-out, anything between 375 and 395 would be great due to lower bodyweight and caloric deficit.